Third Time's a Charm
by supercsi4
Summary: Post 17x14 On Fire, but I actually wrote this before the episode, but much of my story still fit perfectly with what actually happened on the show. I didn't focus too much on Ellie's temper from 17x14 On Fire, because I'm working on a different fic about that. Enjoy.


The first time Nick says, "I love you" to Ellie is in the note while he was hypnotized…

Nick put a red lollipop in his mouth and settled on the couch behind Ellie. Dr. Grace tried hypnotizing Ellie, but when she opened her eyes and turned around, they realized Nick was actually the one who succumbed to the hypnotism.

Dr. Grace told him to write down a secret that he wanted to tell Ellie. He writes, "I'm in love with you" on a piece of paper and folds it up. Dr. Grace hands it over to Ellie. Ellie reads it but keeps it to herself, she doesn't tell Dr. Grace or Jack, this will be her little secret. She'll pull it back out and show Nick when the time is right. He doesn't remember any of it.

The second time Nick says, "I love you" to Ellie is when he is highly medicated in the hospital…

It was the worst day Ellie had ever had to live through. She wanted to kill Xavier, but knew Nick wouldn't want her to do that. After they figured out who the suspect was and realized Nick was still in trouble, Ellie, Gibbs and Tim rushed back to the hospital to set up the sting to catch Colleen in the act, trying to kill Nick again. After Gibbs arrested her and left Nick's hospital room, Ellie made herself comfortable at the end of Nick's hospital bed. She breathed a sigh of relief that everything turned out fine, it was very possible that this day could have ended differently.

Ellie wanted to jump on top of him and kiss him senseless, but she thought she'd keep the mood light and made a joke about Nick jumping out of the way of the car next time.

"Cause you know I'd risk my life to save yours," Nick said to Ellie. His words hit her hard especially after today, because she would do the same thing for Nick.

Ellie reached down and took Nick's hand, he accepted it and tightened his grip as she rubbed the back of his hand with her thumb.

"I know." He had no idea just how much she knew, how much he loved her.

Just then the nurse decided to walk in, Ellie went to move, but Nick held her hand tight, he didn't want her to go.

"Agent Torres, how are you feeling? Now that your little sting operation is over, doctors' orders, you need to get some rest," he said as he walked over to administer some meds, "I'm going to give you some meds that will make you go to sleep, best thing for you right now is to rest."

They sat there holding hands until the nurse left, and Nick looked up at Ellie again, his eyes glazing over, the meds were hitting him hard.

"I love you Ellie."

Ellie just laughed, she knew he was drugged up and didn't know what he was saying, "I know Nick. You love me like a sister."

"No, like I wanna kiss you and wake up next to you every morning and marry you some day." Nick was slurring his words slightly, "We'd have a small wedding, nothing fancy, or maybe we could just elope to Vegas."

She didn't know what to say as she held Nick's hand until he fell fast asleep. He doesn't remember any of it.

_I love how Nick will confess his feelings towards me when he's hypnotized or drugged up, but normal Nick wants to treat me like his sister._

The third time Nick says, "I love you" to Ellie, he means it…

This time Ellie wasn't there to stop him, Nick lost his temper and punched the suspect, several times. Gibbs sent him home and Ellie went by the check on him.

She knocked on his front door, then just used her key to let herself in. Nick is over working his frustrations out on his punching bag. He knew she was there but chose to just ignore her, so she sat down on the couch and waited for him. She doesn't want to force him to talk, but she'll be there when he's ready. He eventually makes his way to the kitchen to grab two beers and meets her in the living room. Handing her a beer he says, "You didn't have to come check on me, I'm fine."

"Come sit down," Ellie says pointing to the floor in front of her.

"What? No thank you."

"Come… Sit… Down," she demands this time, not taking no for an answer.

He sets his beer down on the coffee table and sits down on the floor, facing the tv, back to the couch, in between Ellie's legs. He is still sweaty from his workout, but she doesn't care. The smell of Nick and sweat is intoxicating. His muscular arms glistening with sweat was a little distracting. She leans forward to also place her beer down on the coffee table. She's wearing a thin t-shirt, her breasts brush against his shoulder as she leans forward and he jumps slightly.

"Relax," she says. Her hands land on his shoulders and began massaging them. "You are so stressed out and tense and need to relax."

"A little massage is not going to do any… oh my god Ellie, that feels amazing." His eyes close and he relaxes back into her, letting her hands work their magic.

She massages his shoulders, gentle at first but then she adds a little more pressure to really get into his muscles and release some of that tension. She massages down his arms and back up again, then his neck and eventually rubbing and scratching his scalp. He's in heaven.

They sit in silence for a while until Nick is finally relaxed enough to speak.

"I just… you know it's hard to work cases like this and then… just come home to an empty house. I have all this pent-up anger and sometimes I just can't control it."

"Who are you telling Nick? You do remember me punching Victor in the airport, right?" She laughed and so did he. "Yeah, that was amazing," he said.

"You know I will always be here for you Nick," Ellie finally whispers, just loud enough for him to hear. She was afraid to say it, she didn't want to make this awkward, but she really did worry about him and really did want him to let her into his heart.

Nick ever so slowly, turned around to kneel between Ellie's legs. His hands meant to land on the couch on either side of her, but instead landed on her thighs. His hands felt like fire even through her jeans.

"I don't deserve someone like you in my life Ellie." Looking down at her hands that were now resting between them, she was nervously twiddling her thumbs. "You shouldn't want to help a broken guy like me with so much baggage, PTSD, a temper… can't admit my feelings." His eyes began to water, she was breaking through his shell.

"Do I get a say in what I want?"

He finally looked up to meet her eyes. She reached out to cup his face and with her thumbs, she wiped the tears falling from his eyes as tears began to fall down her own cheeks. Her heart ached to see him like this.

"I've got baggage, I've got PTSD, I've got a temper and I can't admit my feelings either."

He laughed.

"Two peas in a pod."

She laughed too.

He had slowly moved his hands up her thighs and had reached her waist. He pulled her to the edge of the couch, so her body was against his now.

"No turning back now," Nick said.

Ellie's heart was pounding as she closed the distance between them with a soft hesitant kiss, like when they were undercover. She pulled back to look at Nick, but he tightened his grip on her and kissed her again, this time harder, this time he wanted to show her just how much he appreciated her, how much he loved her. Her fingers combed through his hair and landed on his neck, deepening the kiss even more. His hands slid up the back of her shirt as her tongue slid into his mouth.

He pulled back and rested his forehead against hers.

"I love you Ellie."

"Show me."

And he did.


End file.
